


white

by sinfulchihuahua0602



Series: whump advent 2020 [1]
Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III Whump, Hurt Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:07:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27870494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinfulchihuahua0602/pseuds/sinfulchihuahua0602
Summary: Hiccup swears under his breath, then shivers and grimaces.Note to self: never decide to use the cover of snow for an attack, he thinks bitterly, looking around frantically for somewhere to hide, any direction to go that wouldn’t be putting himself right in the Hunters’ path. He isn’t even sure what direction they’re coming from.
Series: whump advent 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2041774
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	white

**Author's Note:**

> whump advent day 1-3: hypothermia / out in the cold

Stupid. This is the worst plan Hiccup had ever come up with, and that’s in a long history of “worst” plans that usually ended up working out very well.

This one, however, had gone wrong, and it had gone  _ very  _ wrong, and it didn’t seem to be looking better.

It didn’t seem to be looking  _ anything,  _ really, because Hiccup can’t see. The snow falls thickly, obscuring everything from view. Underneath his feet - his  _ freezing  _ feet, his metal leg is ice cold and the only thing stopping it from transferring it to his actual leg is the wood between his leg and the prosthetic, and even that is cold - the snow rises to just below knee height, hindering his movements. He has no fur coat, nothing but his leather armor and his one boot, both of which the cold is sinking quickly into.

The only good thing about this is that if he can’t see, the Hunters can’t either, and that buys him some time. 

_ If the cold doesn’t kill me first _ , he thinks morbidly, shivering with his arms wrapped around himself.

Toothless was somewhere; Hiccup had lost him when they’d both gone down, crashing into a thick copse of trees and getting separated when they landed. He’d searched for several minutes, following the sound of Toothless’s roars, but the snow was far too thick to see in and he’d realized he was nowhere near his dragon. So now, he is walking simply to find somewhere to get warm - he’s no use to Toothless dead.

The trees had ended behind him, and all Hiccup can see is endless white - white snow, gray-white sky, white falling snow, white snow-covered hills in the distance, white snow-covered trees in front of the hills. He’s getting rather sick of the color, and is imagining red and orange flames, violet plasma blasts,  _ anything  _ warm that he can think of. It’s really not helping very much.

He can feel himself slowing, mind getting fuzzy and legs dragging slower and slower through the snow, and he knows this is the beginning of hypothermia. He has no idea how long he’s been out here, the world being suspended in an eternal state of dull gray sunlight and falling snow, but apparently it’s long enough for the cold to start really affecting him. He has to keep going, though - if he stops now, there’s no doubt that he’ll die, but he might find a cave he can shelter in.

And then he hears a stick snap, and the voices come from off to his right.

“I saw the Haddock boy go down with that dragon of his.”

“We can barely see out here. He could’ve flown off already and we’d be freezing our asses off for nothing.”

“Viggo would give us a reward if we captured him, though. He’s said so himself.”

There’s a distant grumble, and then a reluctant, “Fine. We’ll keep searching.”

Hiccup swears under his breath, then shivers and grimaces.  _ Note to self: never decide to use the cover of snow for an attack,  _ he thinks bitterly, looking around frantically for somewhere to hide, any direction to go that wouldn’t be putting himself right in the Hunters’ path. He isn’t even sure what direction they’re coming from.

It’s all  _ white,  _ endless gods-damned  _ white.  _ Hiccup groans in frustration. “Think, Hiccup, think,” he mutters under his breath, but his thoughts are fuzzy and it’s hard to make his mouth move. He’s already forgetting the words that the Hunters said, that they’re even after him - he swears again. His hypothermia is worse than he thought, he thinks briefly, with effort, before that thought disappears and he shivers.

He picks a direction and runs as fast as he can in the thick snow. He’s helped only by the fact that one of his legs is metal - if both feet were freezing and affected by hypothermia like one is, he’s sure he would’ve been even slower. As it is, he feels like he isn’t running at all, and it’s far too much effort to keep the thought of  _ run  _ in his mind long enough to keep going. He’s lucky he doesn’t pick the direction the Hunters are in.

The voices echo behind him, getting fainter. Hiccup keeps running, dragging his feet through the heavy snow, forcing himself to remember the reason he’s doing this, that he has to. 

The minutes drag on; his mind gets fuzzier.  _ Run. _

He forgets why he’s running, barely moves fast enough to be considered a proper walk, but he has to  _ run. _

An indeterminable amount of time passes like this, Hiccup’s mind and body slowing until he feels like he’s about to collapse and the final thought of  _ run  _ finally slips away from him. He’s surrounded by white, now, as he keeps moving for no reason at all, and he’s so, so cold. His whole body is ice, though he’s stopped shivering and has his arms still wrapped around himself, though it’s useless at this point.

He wonders why he doesn’t just stop and collapse, why he keeps going. It seems like a good idea, to just sink into the cold and the darkness threatening to overtake him. He’d be warmer in the darkness, he thinks, wouldn’t have to keep going through his overwhelming exhaustion.

He almost does - feels himself slow until he almost stops, feels his legs almost give out - until he sees something moving in the white, something dark. Whatever part of his mind is still coherent forces him to keep going, walking towards the black shape until he breaks through the snow and stumbles into a cave.

He falls, using too much effort to walk through the snow and not slowing his momentum fast enough when the snow abruptly ends. The stone is cold against his skin - but he can’t feel it, anyway, his entire body is numb. Something in him is satisfied at the fact that he found the cave, though he can’t remember why, and he relaxes right on the ground.

The darkness is welcoming, even in the cave. Hiccup feels a little warmer, sheltered from the snow, and he’s so tired. He just goes limp where he lays, a few feet in the cave, and lets exhaustion overtake him, unconsciousness rising quickly to drag him down.

-0-0-0-

Toothless whines as he and Astrid walk through the storm, tail flicking. He looks up at Astrid when Stormfly stops, losing Hiccup’s scent in the deep snow, and gives a quiet, worried whimper. 

Astrid frowns, shivering in her fur coat and putting a hand on Toothless’s scales. “We’ll find him, Toothless,” she says, reassuring him as well as herself. They’ve been searching for hours, the Riders following her and Toothless and keeping warm by the heat of their dragons - and now, even the dragons are getting cold. 

Toothless whines and sniffs at the snow, pawing at it and then looking up into the dense snowfall. All the tracks Hiccup might have made have been covered by the snow, and they don’t even know if he was captured by Hunters before he made it to a cave - or before he… well. She’s not going to think about that. 

Stormfly chirps and makes her own low whining noise, feet shifting in the snow as she sniffs at it and comes up with nothing. Astrid wants to cry, her hope slowly dying as they keep searching and Stormfly loses the faint scent of Hiccup’s trail. It’s been hours, she thinks despairingly. She doesn’t know how long he could’ve survived on his own - which means he’s either captured by Hunters or- or-

No. Hiccup isn’t-  _ that.  _ He’s the most stubborn person she knows, he’s not gone.  _ He’s not gone.  _

Her hands curl into fists and she feels spiteful anger rise in her. She starts walking, forcefully moving through the snow. Toothless follows reluctantly behind her, giving a curious whine. 

“Uh, Astrid? Where are you going? Stormfly lost the scent,” Tuffnut says confusedly from behind her. 

Astrid glares at the snow and keeps going. “We’re obviously going in the right direction. We  _ need  _ to find Hiccup, so I’m going to keep searching. You can stay behind if you want,” she replies - a little too harsh, but she’s worried and she lashes out when she’s worried. Especially when there’s the possibility that Hiccup is- is  _ dying.  _ Not already- not  _ that  _ yet, but dying. He’s not gone. She would’ve felt it. 

After a moment, she hears the dragons huff and the other Riders follow behind her, fanning out a little to search in every direction. They’re reluctant to go far, for fear of losing each other like they lost Hiccup, but they at least look all around them. 

It seems like forever that they’re searching when Stormfly perks up, chirping and running lightly on the snow. Toothless follows a bit slower, and Astrid struggles to keep up with them. “Guys! Stormfly found something!” she calls back to the other Riders. 

In a few minutes, Astrid stumbles onto stone when the snow abruptly ends and she’s covered by the roof of a cave. Toothless whines and nudges at something in the dark, circling around it. Stormfly opens her mouth and holds a low flame, dimly illuminating the cave. 

Orange light plays over Hiccup’s unconscious form right by Astrid’s feet, and she gasps when she sees him. A thin layer of snow covers his feet and legs from when the wind changed direction, and his lips are a worrying shade of blue. She crouches down and brushes off the snow from his legs - his prosthetic foot is ice cold, and his armor is cold as well. Even his skin is cold, as she takes his hand and squeezes it. 

Blood rushes into his hand when she does, coloring the pale skin a light red. Toothless whimpers and nuzzles underneath his hand, pressing his body up against him and curling around. Hiccup doesn’t respond; Astrid shoves down the panic and presses her fingers to his throat, feeling for a pulse. 

It’s slow, far too slow for it to be normal, but eventually she hears a  _ thud-thud  _ beneath her fingers and she almost sobs in relief.  _ He’s alive, he’s alive,  _ she thinks desperately to herself to calm the panic. 

Toothless nudges his nose under Hiccup’s body and Astrid nods, standing up. “You’re right, Toothless,” she says. She unclips Toothless’s saddle to get better heat from his scales and helps him drape Hiccup over his back, laying him on his back down Toothless’s body. She leads him further into the cave so Toothless can lay down carefully, keeping Hiccup on him. 

She turns to the other Riders. “Does anyone have a light?”

Snotlout holds his lantern out and she takes it, setting it down in the middle of the area she’s designated. “Alright. Hookfang and Barf and Belch,” she turns to the dragons, who give answering noises, realizing how bad the situation is, “can you put your wings up to block the wind?”

Hookfang growls and rumbles, stepping back a little and onto his hind legs, spreading his wings to cover the entire length of the cave. Barf and Belch look at each other, then follow Hookfang’s lead, moving in front of him and raising their wings a bit lower to cover the open bottom edges of Hookfang’s wingspan over the cave. 

Astrid smiles at them in thanks and looks around at their little area. It’s a small cave in the first place, and she doesn’t want to have to heat up too big of an area. 

She walks over to Hiccup, picking up his hands and raising them. “Stormfly?”

Stormfly chirps and walks over, opening her mouth and holding another low flame. She puts herself near Hiccup’s hands, enough to feel the heat, and Astrid rubs his skin a little as she holds them, feeling warmth slowly return. 

The other Riders have sat down against the far wall of the cave. Astrid turns away from Stormfly, letting go of Hiccup’s hands. Stormfly starts moving her mouth up and down Hiccup’s body, close enough for him to feel the heat, like a fire, but far enough it won’t burn him. 

“Fishlegs, can you stand guard with Meatlug and tell us if anyone is coming? We shouldn’t have to be here long, not with Stormfly and Toothless warming Hiccup up, but we can’t leave and fly in the cold with him like this.”

Fishlegs nods, glancing over at Hiccup. There’s a dark, determined look in his eyes when he walks away, Barf and Belch folding their wing in to allow him to pass. Astrid turns to Snotlout and the twins when she’s finished, then glances at Hiccup. 

Suddenly, there’s nothing to do. She can’t do anything else to help Hiccup, and the cave is as heated up as it can be with one lantern and two dragons blocking the wind and wayward drifting snow. It makes her feel a little lost, a little helpless, and she paces with the feeling. She  _ hates  _ feeling helpless, even if she knows she did everything she could to help Hiccup by the glances she gives up at Toothless and Stormfly every few minutes. 

It’s a long, torturous hour that they wait, Astrid growing more restless and Snotlout and the twins’ bored antics only agitating her further. Even their antics have an edge of desperation to them, an edge of too-much-distraction that comes when the thoughts of something worse is beating at the edges, threatening to take over. The dragons shift restlessly too, Stormfly taking a break from holding a flame to guard the cave while Hookfang moves his head slowly up and down above Hiccup’s body, fire held in his mouth. Toothless whimpers concernedly, head twisting back to look at Hiccup. 

_ Finally _ , they hear him stir. Toothless’s head snaps back instantly, and Hookfang leans back, still holding a flame in his mouth. Astrid, Snotlout, and the twins all go silent, looking up. 

“Hiccup?” Snotlout asks tentatively, the first real sign he’s shown that he’s as scared for Hiccup as Astrid is. 

There’s a cough, then a pained groan, and Hiccup’s head lifts. Toothless warbles and whines, trying to nudge at Hiccup without knocking him off his back and failing. 

Hookfang steps back, letting Astrid rush over to Hiccup as he tries rolling onto his side and help him down without falling. He lands unsteadily on his feet, and Astrid helps hold him up as he leans against her. 

“Hiccup, how are you feeling?” she asks when he’s quiet, simply staring at the ground.

“Not…” he stops, and she waits. He holds up one hand, slowly flexing his still-cold fingers, and tries again. “Not… terrible,” he gets out, as if it was difficult to say. 

She nods. “Okay, do you think you can fly Toothless? I’m sorry, but we really need to get out of here. We’re still in Hunter territory.”

She hates doing this, but he’ll be able to warm up for longer at the Edge, and there will be no threat of the Hunters finding them. The sooner they fly back, the better Hiccup will be in the long run. 

He nods slowly, again after a long pause. “Yeah,” he says slowly, voice slightly slurred. She frowns in concern, but walks him over to the wall where he sits down and turns back to start strapping Toothless’s saddle back on. 

She finishes a few minutes later, helping Hiccup back onto Toothless. He can barely sit up, and she frowns deeper. “Hiccup, what if I ride with you? That’ll keep you warmer. Stormfly can fly on her own.”

Hiccup’s brow furrows for a moment and then he nods, his eyes drifting shut. Astrid climbs behind him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him back against her chest. He leans against her, almost limp in her arms, and Toothless stands up, looking back with a concerned whimper. 

“He’ll be fine, Toothless,” Astrid says, and smiles when Hiccup’s hand twitches, rubbing back and forth on Toothless’s scales. 

The other Riders have already gone to their dragons, Snotlout extinguishing his lantern, and Fishlegs has gotten the message too. They all turn and take off into the still falling snow, barely able to see but warm with their dragons and Hookfang on fire in the middle of them, relying on their dragons’ innate sense of direction. 

It’s a while before Astrid notices Hiccup has fallen asleep against her, foot locked into holding the prosthetic tailfin in place. He’s breathing steadily and still with cold skin, but it’s not ice cold like before and his pulse is stronger. She smiles, feeling the final edges of panic recede and a calm peace fall over her, pulling Hiccup closer to her. 

He’s okay. He’s alive. They’ll all be okay. 


End file.
